London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

UK military aid to Ukraine could rise to £500m, MPs told

UK military aid to Ukraine could rise to £500m, MPs told

Defence secretary Ben Wallace says UK will send Stormer missile launchers as part of effort to drive out Russians
The UK has supplied £200m of military aid to Ukraine, the defence secretary has said, as he confirmed Britain would send a “small number” of Stormer missile launchers to Ukraine and offer a deployment of Challenger 2 tanks to Poland.

In a statement to MPs, Ben Wallace said gifts of weapons by Britain could eventually total £500m, and he said 15,000 Russian soldiers had died since the invasion began on 24 February.

“We have gifted in aid £200m which we propose will grow to £500m to Ukraine,” Wallace told the House of Commons. Replacement equipment would be paid for by the Treasury on an “old for new” basis, the minister said.

The objective of British military support should be to help ensure Ukraine “gets to chose where it wishes to settle for peace”, Wallace said, but he added that in his view Russia should be forced out of the entire country, back to its pre-2014 border.

“I want Putin not only beyond the pre-February boundaries. He invaded Crimea illegally, he invaded Donetsk illegally and he should comply with international law and in the long run leave Ukraine,” Wallace said.

On Monday night it was also announced that the UK would send 22 new ambulances to Ukraine and had already sent more than 40 fire engines.

Britain is also one of the largest suppliers in Europe of arms to Ukraine, running down its stocks of weapons to keep Kyiv’s forces supplied. But its supplies are dwarfed by those of the US, which has provided $3.7bn of military aid since Russia invaded.

Stormer armoured vehicles carry Starstreak laser-guided anti-aircraft missiles and are designed to provide a roving threat to Russian jets and helicopters.

On the tanks, Wallace’s language suggested a firming up of plans first floated by Boris Johnson on Friday when he said the UK was “looking at” sending British Challenger 2s to Poland so that Warsaw could in turn send Ukraine more T-72 tanks, the Russian design used by its armed forces.

Wallace told MPs: “We’re also offering a deployment of British Challenger tanks to Poland to bridge the gap between Poland donating tanks to Ukraine and their replacement arriving from a third country.”

Poland expects to receive the first of 250 US-made Abrams tanks later this year but is willing to send more of its arsenal of T-72s to Ukraine if the UK and other western nations come forward and provide reinforcements now.

Earlier this month it was suggested that Poland could donate 100 T-72s to its neighbour, and there have been some reports suggesting some of the Soviet-designed vehicles have already secretly been sent.

Wallace indicated that the UK was looking at supplying Brimstone ground-based missiles that could be used to defend Odesa against any seaborne invasion, but he ruled out giving Kyiv the UK’s dated AS90 artillery.

Since the beginning of the year the UK has supplied 5,361 NLAW anti-tank bazookas, more than 200 US-made Javelin missiles and 104 Starstreak high-velocity and other low-velocity anti-tank weapons, Wallace said.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
×